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MARK5811 AMR1
Overview & Marketing Research
Process
T3-2023
Lecture structure for this lecture
• Course issues and questions
• Course aims and learning outcomes
• Topics covered in MARK5811
• Assessment details
• General lecture structure for each week
• Marketing research: Scope and functions
• Marketing research process
• Ethical principles
• Next topic: AMR2: Research Design: Quantitative,
Qualitative, and Mixed Methods
• Lecture summary
Prescribed Text
Gray, David E. (2020).
Doing Research in the
Business World, (2nd edition)
Sage, London.
Physical copies of the
prescribed textbook
available:
https://www.bookshop.unsw.
edu.au/details.cgi?ITEMNO
=9781529704198
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Previous Prescribed Text
Gray, David E. (2017).
Doing Research in the
Business World, Sage,
London.
Free digital copy is available
via UNSW library.
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Course Aims
• provide an understanding of the scope and function of
marketing research
• increase knowledge and skills to help diagnose and measure
marketing problems
• develop skills related to the analysis of marketing data.
Topics Covered
1. Overview & Marketing Research Process
2. Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed
Methods
3. Secondary Data Analysis
4. Sampling Strategies and Case Studies
5. Interviewing
6. Observation and Focus Groups
7. Survey (I)
8. Survey (II)
9. Analysing Quantitative Data, Report Writing, and Wrap up
Assessments
Assessment Task Weighting Length Due Date
Class Participation 10% - Ongoing
Individual Paper –
Marketing
Research Exercise
10% 500 words 16:00, Friday, 29
September 2023
Research Report
(Group)
30% 3,000 words 16:00, Friday, 17
November 2023
Final Exam 50% Available for
24 hours.
University Exam
Period
Total 100%
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Class Participation I (10%)
• Refer to MARK5811 T3-2023 Assessment Information on
Moodle course website for more details.
• Class Preparation: e.g., read the readings in advance
• Verbal Participation: e.g., during lectures, group discussion,
tutorial exercise
• Written Comments/Questions: e.g., during class exercise
Class Participation II (10%)
• Evidence of preparation (e.g., advance reading of the related
materials, such as book chapter, journal article or case) and
ability to discuss/debate the issues (35%)
• Quality of expression and presentation of arguments (30%)
• Quality of contribution during the class and group discussion
(e.g., using theory to explain real world phenomena, using
theory to propose a solution or identify a problem) (35%)
Individual Paper – Marketing Research Exercise (10%)
• Refer to MARK5811 T3-2023 Assessment Information on Moodle
course website for more details.
• Due date: 16:00, Friday, 29 September 2023
• Word limit: Maximum 500 words (All included except
UNSW assignment cover sheet, references, and appendices).
• Submit to Turnitin via Moodle course website
• Task: To understand the expectations of their existing customers
about what the new CEO should do to address the issues, Qantas
management has proposed adopting a mixed methods research
design, that is, qualitative (i.e., semi-structured interviews) first,
then quantitative (i.e., online questionnaires). Please critique the
proposed mixed methods research design and provide ONE research
design suggestion for Qantas.
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Research Report (30%) (I)
• Refer to MARK5811 T3-2023 Assessment Information on
Moodle course website for more details.
• Due date: 16:00, Friday, 17 November 2023
• Word limit: Maximum 3,000 words (All included except
UNSW assignment cover sheet, references, and appendices)
• Submit to Turnitin via Moodle course website
• No. of students per group: 3 – 5
➢Group formation (i.e., selecting your own group members)
will be organised in Week 1 tutorial. Please make sure you
attend Week 1 tutorial.
Research Report (30%) (II)
• Key Task:

As a marketing research consultant, you are required to
conduct qualitative (e.g. focus group, interview) and/or
quantitative (e.g. survey) research, and prepare a research
report for a company. The research findings will be used to
advise the selected company on its marketing strategy.
Final Exam (Take-home exam) (50%)
• Refer to MARK5811 T3-2023 Assessment Information on
Moodle course website for more details.
• During the formal examination period at the end of the session
• Available for 24 hours.
• Details on exam scope and question style will be discussed in Week
10 lecture.
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The system is now open for electronic submission via moodle for
Individual Paper – Marketing Research Exercise (10%) and
Research Report (30%).
Go to MARK5811 Moodle course website, under “Assessment
Submission”.
Ting’s contact details
• Email: ting.yu@unsw.edu.au
• Office: Quadrangle Building 3015
• Phone: 02 - 9385 3242
• Consultation: 15:00-16:00 Thur. via Microsoft Teams during
teaching weeks or by appointment.
➢ Best way to communicate with Ting: Email
➢ If no reply from Ting for 2 business days, please email
again.
General lecture structure for each week
• Course issues and questions
• Quick review of the previous topic
• Concepts related to the current topic
• Key study area for the next topic
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Define marketing research
• Marketing research is the systematic and objective
identification, collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of
information.
• Marketing research is conducted for the purpose of improving
decision making related to the identification and solution of
problems, and opportunities in marketing.
Functions of marketing research
Marketing Research
Problem
Identification
Problem-
Solving
Functions of marketing research
• Problem-Identification: Research undertaken to help identify
problems which are not necessarily apparent on the surface and
yet exist or are likely to arise in the future.
• Problem-Solving: Research undertaken to help solve specific
marketing problems.
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Marketing research process
Step 1: Defining the Problem
Step 2: Developing an Approach to the Problem
Step 3: Formulating a Research Design
Step 4: Collecting Data
Step 5: Preparing and Analyzing Data
Step 6: Preparing and Presenting the Report
Step 1: Problem defining
• Discussion with decision maker(s)
• Interviews with experts
• Secondary data analysis
• Qualitative research
• Environmental context of the problem
Discussion with decision maker(s)
• To understand the nature of the problem decision maker
facing and what they hope to learn from the research
• Decision maker needs to understand the capabilities and
limitations of research
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Interviews with experts
• Normally use unstructured personal interview
• Experts can be found inside and outside the firm
Secondary data analysis
• Data collected for some purpose other than the
problem at hand
• Include sources from government reports, commercial
marketing research firm, and computerized database
• An economical and quick source of background
information
Qualitative research
• It provides valuable insights to the problem and its
underlying factors
• It is unstructured, exploratory in nature, based on small
samples
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Environmental context of the problem
• Past Information and Forecasts (e.g. past sales, market
share)
• Competitive environment
• Resources and Constraints (e.g. cost, time, research skills)
• Objectives (e.g. organizational objective)
• Buyer Behavior (e.g. preference, price sensitivity)
• Legal Environment (e.g. laws)
• Economic Environment (e.g. disposable income, savings)
• Marketing and Technological Skills (e.g. technology
advancement)
Marketing research questions
• Marketing research questions are refined statements of the
specific components of the problem.
• What could be potential research questions?
➢What criteria do households use when selecting department
stores?
➢Who are the customers? What are their demographic and
psychographic characteristics? Does it differ from the
profile of customers of competing stores?
➢What is the market share of Coles and its competitors for
specific product categories?
➢Are customer loyal to Coles? What is the extent of brand
loyalty?
Step 2: Developing an approach to the problem
• Objective/Theoretical framework
• Specification of the information needed
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Step 3: Formulating a research design
Research design
Exploratory
Research Design
Conclusive Research
Design
Descriptive Research Causal Research
Cross-Sectional
Design
Longitudinal Design
Single Cross-
Sectional Design
Multiple Cross-
Sectional Design
Exploratory research
Exploratory research intends merely to explore the research
questions and does not intend to offer final and conclusive
solutions to existing problems. This type of research is usually
conducted to study a problem that has not been clearly defined
yet.
Descriptive research
• It is conducted to describe the characteristics of relevant
groups, such as consumers, salespeople, organizations, or
market areas.
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Cross-sectional design
• Involve the collection of information from any given sample of
population elements only once.

Longitudinal design
• A fixed sample (or samples) of population elements is
measured repeatedly on the same variables.
Causal research
It is used to understand which variables are the cause
(independent variables) and which variables are the effect
(dependent variables) of a phenomenon.
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Step 4: Collecting data
• Primary data are originated by a researcher for the specific
purpose of addressing the problem at hand.
• Secondary data are data that have already been collected for
purposes other than the problem at hand. These data can be
located quickly and inexpensively.
Step 5: Preparing and analysing data
Please take a minute to complete this small survey. The information that you share with us will be very
useful in helping us improve our service. Your answers will be kept confidential and will not be used for
any other reason other than this survey conducted by [NAME OF RESTURANT].
1. What is your general satisfaction level with this restaurant?


2. How would you rate the quality of the food served at this restaurant?
3. How would you rate the service of the staff in the restaurant?
Preparing data: Variable view of restaurant survey
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Preparing data: Data view of restaurant survey
Analysing data
• Characteristics of the data
• Techniques
• Background and philosophy of the researcher
Step 6: Preparing and presenting the research report
• A report is a written and/or oral presentation of the research
process, results, recommendations, and/or conclusions to a
specific audience.
• Management decisions are guided by the report and the
presentation.
• Management's decision to undertake marketing research in the
future or to use the particular research supplier again will be
influenced by the perceived usefulness of the report and the
presentation.
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Presenting report
• Easy to follow
• Creative communication
• Presentable and professional appearance
• Reinforce text with tables and graphs
Ethical principles
• Ethical principles fall into four main areas, namely, the need
to:
➢Avoid harm to participants (and producing benefits)
➢Ensure informed consent of participants
➢Respect the privacy of participants
➢Avoid the use of deception
Avoid harm to participants
• Research will be considered harmful if it causes a participant
to be:
➢ embarrassed.
➢belittled.
➢ anxious.
➢ stressed.
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Informed consent
• Researcher should provide information on:
➢The aims of the research.
➢Who will be undertaking it.
➢Who is being asked to participate.
➢What kind of information is being sought.
➢How much of the participant’s time is required
➢That participation in the study is voluntary.
➢That responding to all questions is voluntary.
➢Who will have access to the data once it is collected.
➢How anonymity of respondents will be preserved.
➢Who should it be returned to and by when
Respect the privacy of participants
• Respondents have the right to withdraw at any time
• Data (in electronic and manual forms) must be kept securely
Avoid deception
• Best achieved by being open and transparent about the
research including:
➢ its objectives
➢methods
➢uses
➢ role of respondent, including time and any other
commitments
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Checklist of ethical issues
Next Topic: AMR2 – Research Design:
Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods
• Design of quantitative studies
• Design of qualitative studies
• Designing and collecting qualitative data
• Mixed methods: Design, benefits, and types